Wizards-Nets Preview

By NOEY KUPCHANPosted Apr 14 2013 9:54PM

Locked into the Eastern Conference's No. 4 seed, the Brooklyn Nets have little to play for down the stretch.

Making sure they're fresh for the playoffs is a much bigger priority.

Deron Williams is one of several players who could be rested as the Nets open a season-ending two-game homestand against the Washington Wizards on Monday night.

While Brooklyn (47-33) had a chance to climb to within one game of Indiana for third place in the East after the Pacers lost to New York on Sunday, coach P.J. Carlesimo's team instead suffered a disappointing defeat of its own, 93-87 at Toronto.

Despite being two games back with two to go, the Nets can't catch Indiana, which owns the tiebreaker as a division winner.

Williams had 30 points and Reggie Evans collected 16 rebounds for Brooklyn, which had a four-game winning streak snapped and never led Sunday. The Nets have home-court advantage in the first found round of the playoffs but are still awaiting their opponent.

Carlesimo said his staff will discuss resting players over the final two games. Brooklyn concludes the regular season against Detroit on Wednesday.

"We don't need to get anybody hurt," he said. "We're not playing for anything. Going forward now we've certainly got to rest some people."

Gerald Wallace missed his second straight game Sunday with a leg injury, leaving his status for this one unlikely. Williams came out of Sunday's loss a bit banged up and could also sit out.

"I got kneed twice today in two different spots," said Williams, averaging 27.5 points over the last six games. "We'll see how it goes (Monday)."

Washington (29-51) surely wouldn't mind seeing Williams in dress clothes. The three-time All-Star put on quite a show as Brooklyn cruised to an easy 95-78 win the last time these teams met March 8, setting an NBA record with nine 3-pointers in the first half.

Williams, who with 33 points over the first two quarters became the first player in a decade to match the opposing team's score at halftime, finished the night with a season-high 42 while going 11 of 16 from beyond the arc.

"Deron, he was hot like fish grease," said Evans, averaging an NBA-best 15.3 rebounds since Feb. 22.

The Wizards are coming off their fourth consecutive loss, 97-86 to Philadelphia on Friday. John Wall continued his impressive play with 24 points and seven assists, but no one else scored more than 10.

Washington led by as many as 13 in the second quarter but shot a season-worst 7.7 percent (1 for 13) from long distance. The Wizards haven't dropped five straight since Dec. 29-Jan. 6.

"It's very disappointing," Garrett Temple said. " We have two more games left and we definitely want to get to 30 wins."

Washington has shot just 38.8 percent and been outscored by an average of 13.2 points during a six-game road skid. The Nets, though, will have to keep an eye on Wall, who's 24.7 points per game since March 12 ranks in the top 10 in the league.

Copyright 2013 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited

Blatche leads Brooklyn bench over Wizards, 106-101

Posted Apr 16 2013 12:27AM

NEW YORK (AP) On a night when the four of the Brooklyn Nets' five starters rested, a meaningless April game provided ample opportunity for a group of players that will be mostly watching from the bench when the playoffs tip off.

Andray Blatche led a bevy of Brooklyn reserves, whose most playing time has come in blowout games, with 20 points and 11 rebounds and the Nets erased an early 17-point deficit to beat the Washington Wizards 106-101 on Monday night.

Before the game, Nets interim head P.J. Carlesimo read off a sheet that resembled a football injury report. However, he was proud of the way they managed to fight back.

"They fell in a hole early and they just kept plugging and plugging," he said. "They did a really good job. At times, our defense was lousy but we also got some big stops in the fourth quarter. They were working. We had a lot of individuals play hard. It was really nice to see."

Carlesimo used the game to gauge how forward Gerald Wallace would react after missing the last two games due to a heel injury that was listed as a lower left leg contusion by the teams.

"I thought he really looked good," Carlesimo said. "He's upset with Timmy (trainer) and I that he didn't play more, but the whole point was to get him out and get a little cardio work and make sure his foot was all right. We were pleased. Hopefully if he comes out of it well tomorrow, we can play him more on Wednesday."

Carlesimo was also pleased with the way Kris Humphries played in 34 minutes and is expecting a significant contribution from him once the playoffs start. Humphries, who was the team's original starting power forward at the beginning of the season before falling out of the rotation, added 20 points and nine boards for Brooklyn.

"We're not going to be successful in the playoffs unless we get the Kris Humphries that we know," Carlesimo said. "It was a big step for him. The more time we can get him in and the more success he has, the better it's going to be."

Mirza Teletovic added 14 points and MarShon Brooks chipped in 12 for the Nets, who will host Detroit on Wednesday night before they open up at home in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.

What appeared as though was going to turn into a lopsided win for Washington turned into a victory for the Nets, spearheaded in the second half by the seldom used Brooklyn rookie trio of Teletovic, Tyshawn Taylor and Toko Shengelia, who was the 54th overall pick of last year's NBA draft and was then acquired that same night from the Philadelphia 76ers.

Shengelia, who has played 67 minutes all season, saw 25 minutes. After averaging 1.1 points and 0.7 rebounds and 3:42 minutes in 18 games, Shengelia finished with 11 points and 13 rebounds. Taylor scored 11 of his 14 in the fourth quarter.

John Wall led Washington with 18 points and 12 assists, while Trevor Booker added 16 points and 13 rebounds for the Wizards, who lost for the fifth straight time.

Washington shot 63.2 percent from the field (24 of 38) in the first half, but the Nets defense held them to just 43.6 percent (17 of 39) in the second half, including 8 of 21 in the third quarter.

Wizards head coach Randy Whitman was disappointed with the way his team played in the final quarter and felt like the team had quit.

"In that fourth quarter, we just came out to play 12 minutes," Whitman said. "We just wanted to get the 12 minutes over with. We lost our pride in defending, which is really discouraging considering the way we've shown we can defend. ... I don't care if this is the second to last game or not, you've got to have a little bit of pride to play defense in the fourth quarter to win a game. Twelve minutes to go, `Let's just get these 12 minutes over with.'

"That's what it looked like to me."

Brooklyn trailed for pretty much all of the game before finally taking a 95-94 lead on Shengelia's layup with 4:57 left in the fourth. Booker's hook shot with 4:37 remaining gave the Wizards a 96-95 lead. Shengelia later blocked Wall's layup attempt. The Wizards then failed to inbound the ball and Teletovic nailed a 3-pointer to make it 98-96 for the Nets with 3:19 left. Booker then tipped in a missed jumper by Wall that evened it up, 98-98, but Teletovic then hit a 3-pointer that gave the Nets a 101-98 lead with 2:33 left.

After Cartier Martin's 3-pointer made it 101-101 with 1:43 left, Blatche's layup gave Brooklyn the lead for good. Martin tried to tie it with another 3-pointer but missed and Taylor followed up with a 3-pointer of his own to make it 106-101 with 22 seconds left.

Nets starters Deron Williams, Brook Lopez, Reggie Evans and Joe Johnson all played cheerleading roles on the bench and were joined by Keith Bogans and Jerry Stackhouse.

Brooklyn will play the Chicago Bulls or Atlanta Hawks in the first round. The Hawks have a half-game lead over the Bulls with two games remaining. If the Hawks go 1-1 and the Bulls win their game against Washington on Wednesday night, the Nets will face the Bulls.

Notes: Brooklyn's win over the Wizards clinched the season series (3-1). ... The 48 wins for the Nets are their most since recording 49 during the 2005-06 season.

Copyright 2013 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited

The Nets (48-33) had trailed for the first 43 minutes before Shengelia's coast-to-coast layup gave them a 95-94 lead. Andray Blatche and Kris Humphries paced the Nets with 20 points apiece and seven Nets finished in double figures. John Wall led the Wizards (29-52) with 18 points and 12 assists, but shot just 5-for-19 from the field.

QUOTABLE: "It's all about opportunity. Tonight, they had the opportunity to go out and prove themselves and I felt a lot of the young guys showed they belong in the league."

-- Andray Blatche

THE STAT: The Wizards lost despite the Nets' struggles (13-for-27) at the free-throw line.

TURNING POINT: Blatche's layup began the Nets' game-changing 13-5 run in the middle of the fourth quarter.

QUOTABLE II: "It's the coach's decision and it is my job to stay prepared."

-- Tornike Shengelia

INSIDE THE ARENA: The Nets held a moment of silence for the victims of the Boston Marathon massacre earlier in the day.